i've looked through some of the searches but most of them were for cars that died while being driven. here's the scenario...

97 civic, drove fine, no problems at all. park the car for a couple hours, then when i go back to start it, doesn't start. cranks and seems to be power, according to my volt meter. also, i thought it was my fuel pump kill switch(relay gone bad) but i flipped my back up switch, so fuel pump turns on, and i think there is fuel pressure(according to fuel pressure gauge) ~38 psi...

so what would make a car not start all of a sudden? have never had any problems with starting before. didn't check to see if there was spark, because it's late and damn cold outside. will check tomorrow. any suggestions?

edit: so no spark... checked the coil, it's good. icm- don't know. what fuses should i check? i've checked the ignition coil fuse under the dash and the pgm f/i fuse under the hood and thats about it. anything else that could've blown? what else could make the car not have spark?


Modified by tominos at 12:07 AM 2/9/2004

 

check these
Fuses
Grounds
Ignition (plugs wires cap coil)

 

could be distributor cuz mine did the same exact thing and i replaced it and it started right up

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMlifestyle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check these
Fuses
Grounds
Ignition (plugs wires cap coil)
</TD></TR></TABLE>

^ those and sometimes the ICM will just go out like that without warning. Happened to me a couple of months ago. Also try starting your car off of a different battery just to be sure it's not that (simple stuff first, then move to more complex)

 

ok thanks for the replies, im going to check those things first. what exactly is the icm?

 

car is getting no spark... what to check now? are there any fuses that could've blown for it to not have spark?

 

the ICM is the ignition control module, it is in the dizzy, next to the coil. first checkall your fuses under the hood and in the car to be safe and the battery (if you haven't allready. Becasue you can still draw current from a bad battery. It doesn't have to be dead to not start the car). Then open up the dizzy and test the coil and the ICM:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=738752

(Look for my post, it'll show you how to test the Coil and ICM)

 

tested coil, the resistance is within specs. don't know how to test icm, what is the ecm/pcm connector A(32p)? can't seem to find it in my helms to disconnect it.

 

bumpity bump, still no spark.. what to do?

 

the instructions to test the ICM are in my post in that link

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FrostySol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the instructions to test the ICM are in my post in that link

Check the YEL/GRN wire between the ECM and the ICM
5. Check the BLU wire between the tachometer and the ICM.
6. If all tests are normal, replace the ICM

</TD></TR></TABLE>

theres the part i don't understand. whats the ecm? and what exactly do you probe when you check the yel/grn wire between ecm and icm. the wording is a little confusing to me. thanks for the help though

 

ttt

 

I'd assume current is what you're looking for, but the manual doesn't say.... sorry I can't be of more help... you don't have to worry about the ECM here, just the wire (think of encapsulation if you're a CS guy... LoL) the wire goes from the ICM out of the dizzy...

 

k i'll look for that, can't touch the car till next week because i'm away at school, if worse comes to worse, will a new dizzy fix things?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tominos &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">k i'll look for that, can't touch the car till next week because i'm away at school, if worse comes to worse, will a new dizzy fix things? </TD></TR></TABLE>

just try swapping it with a friends dist. (dizzy)

 

yea i want to do that, but none of my friends have obd2 civics.

 

free bump , cause im having same prob, tried 3 different dizzy

 

thanks for the bump...

any more options to explore?

 

anyone wanna let me borrow their distributor for a couple mins?